Altiris has released its Windows software virtualisation system SVS, offering it free for personal use. Like rival application virtualisers such as Softricity, SVS allows applications to run in a sandbox, isolated from the operating system.

It works by acting as an application wrapper, so you don't install to Windows, you install to an SVS 'layer' then run from that. This layer holds all the relevant registry settings, DLLs and so on, communicating with a filter driver on the operating system. A sublayer for data holds the application's user settings. Layers can be created for Windows patches too.